Gaming No More

In this day, we find ourselves reborn.

It has been quite some time since I have last wrote about anything that interests me on the internet.  Most likely about two years or so.  These blogs that I used to do involved a heavy amount of information and opinions about the gaming industry.  Since then, I find myself slipping further away from that industry for multiple reasons that are too deep for me to really get into (or that would even capture your attention to be honest).  However, I still enjoy the talking about gaming.  So I decided to fire up my old blog again.  

It used to be called 'Gaming for your Life,' however that narrowed my audience a bit as I like to share other things as-well  such as any photography adventures I've been on or any really neat design I would like to share with you along with any technology related news or opinions.  So instead I came up with the new name: 'Something for your Mind.'  

So why did you decide to start writing again?

Well let me be honest, I am in no way a professional writer and I am sure there will be plenty of spelling and or grammar issues involved with this.  Oh well; I am here to entertain myself and hopefully you.  So maybe all of those issues are there just to make your cringe.  

Ultima Online 1997

Onward with the question!  I have been having an itch, lately, to delve back into a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game).  Yes, that is a mouth full.  For any of you who do not know what that is; it is basically an persistent online world with thousands of other players to interact with.  If you would like to know my history with them, please check out this post I wrote about Ultima Online in 2010.  I am noticing, as I grown older and further away from one of my favorite hobbies, that everything starts to blend together and feel the same.  So I am on the lookout for one game, just one title, to capture me and that I can dedicate myself to when I have the will or time to game.  For some reason, MMO's are always the genre that I find myself drawn to.  However it can not just be any MMO; it has to be one that I can connect with others with.  It has to have the ability to give me options other than questing and killing.  Basically I am looking for that Ultima Online 2, which is very difficult to find in a desaturated market full of me-too's and me-three's.  

I started playing MMORPG's in 1999 and ever since 2006 I have been searching for that next great title that would capture me like UO did.  The second game that came rather close was the all so popular World of Warcraft, however it was missing several elements that I found vital to a genre that was suppose to be an alternate life.  Since 2003, I probably have re-subbed into UO about a dozen times, each time staying less and less in the game world.  Is it that I maybe have out grown this style of gaming or is it just the outdated graphics and game-play that pushes me away?  If so, then why do I always want to go back?  

World of Warcraft 2004

These are questions that cannot be answered, just ask my wife; she's is probably sick of me asking all of these rhetorical questions.  I've often said that I am outgrowing gaming since grown up life has hit hard like a basketball to the face.  Plus I have found several other hobbies that can keep me busy, such as photography and hiking. However, I always find myself thinking about the old days of gaming.  Now with the release of the next generation only months away from us, I find myself in peril as I cannot make up my mind on which console to purchase, or even if I want to spend the money to get a console.  I could buy a really nice lens for my camera for that kind of cash!  So as you can see, I'm in turmoil and decided to start this blog to write about my long lost hobby; gaming.  However I did not want to just focus on gaming at all times, as I would like to use it as an outlet for my photographs and designs.

I do not want to give up on something that has entertained me for the majority of my life and has kept me young at heart.

Then I say to myself, I have not given up gaming, gaming has given up on me!